Memories
by Michi Chan0
Summary: LixSakura This is a one shot AU authors universe its about an evil witch, true love, and forgotten memories. Wow...sound original huh? Any way its pretty cute and fun! So please read & review! luvs


Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura or Reservoir Chronicle Tsubasa  
Michi: As I said in the summary this is a one shot AU (Author's Universe) all posts are welcome flamers and all!  


Preface

Li is a normal 16 teen year old delinquent. He's often skipping school and breaking rules, but nothing too big, his mom would kill him if he got expelled. He tends to wear a lot of black and doesn't have great social skills. His best and most likely only friend is Sakura. She's a bright happy girl who always has a ready smile. She has soft blonde hair and big green eyes; she's usually cheerful and perky but if you get on her nerves watch out! Sakura always likes to lend a helping hand but since she's such a big klutz she usually makes things worse than they were before. She also has a deathly fear of ghosts and spirits; her over active imagination doesn't help her much there.

Memories

Li looked around, "Great!" He thought, "The teacher's late." He quickly dashed out from behind his desk and silently crept to the classroom window which was swinging invitingly open. After he had climbed out he signaled for Sakura to follow.

Sakura looked around nervously, surprisingly none of their classmates had seen. They all had their noses stuck in their math books, but it didn't hurt that she and Li sat in the very back row of their rather large and decrepit classroom. (It was a fine example of government funding.) Once she'd made sure no one was looking Sakura clumsily followed. When she jumped out the window her fluffy pink skirt flew up around her, but she kept it down with her hands. "What are you doing ditching class again?" Sakura asked once she landed. She was all ready to scold him.

"I had to ditch today. We've got that stupid math test and well... I'm just not ready for it." Li said adjusting his hat. "Let's go down to the park. We can decide what we're going to do there." Once he finished he started walking without giving Sakura a chance to reply.

"But-uggh-Fine!" She groaned stomping after him. The truth was, however, that she hadn't study either, and was more than happy for the opportunity to ditch class.

The two odd friends walked down the street cutting across long forgotten roads and backyards. Li grumbled as he jumped a fence and lost his hat on the way over. He quickly climbed back over to retrieve it. Once he'd done so he pulled it down tightly over his pure white hair. "Come on! You're slowing me down." He yelled venting some of his frustration on the struggling girl behind him.

Sakura frowned silently; Li hated his white hair, but he wouldn't ever dye it. The reason why it was so white wasn't clear to her. She'd asked him why once and had only gotten a stony stare, a vague answer, and was told to never ask again. So of course she continued to badger him about it. However, she was only able to learn from her bits of information that Li had told her that it was that white because some traumatic experience when he was a kid. She smiled and pushed the thought from her mind. Li didn't like talking about it, so instead she stuck out her tongue as she climbed over the chain link fence. "Hey you're the one who asked me to come, and you're going too fast!" She said as she dropped down.

Li slowed down substantially but he still reached the park first. He sat down on one of the scattered, mossy stone benches, pulled out a cigarette and lit it. He leaned back resting his eyes and letting the dappled sunlight streak across his face. It was quiet, oh so quiet. He could hear the faint chirpings of the various small creatures that inhabited the park. As he sat there he caught a passing couples conversation.

"Oh what a lovely day it's just perfect!" He heard a cheerful girlish voice call out.

"Yes! It's perfect weather for walking Max." The puppy's yelp seemed to agree with the comment made by young man's voice.

"It's not everyday we get to go out for a pick nick! This will be so much fun!" Li heard the woman's girlish voice drift off as they left his range of hearing.

Opening his eyes and squinting at the sun he mumbled, "I wonder if anyone's noticed we're gone." He sighed and took his hat off. His white hair hung in his face as and he stretched his arms. "Stupid hair. We're still going into that house tonight right? Or are you scared?" He questioned not even turning around to see if Sakura was there.

Sakura, although, had just come up from behind slightly out of breath. "Yeah," She said as she grabbed his cigarette, "I told you to stop! These are bad for you!" She said shaking it in his face then stomping on it, as righteous anger filled her.

Li stood up stretching, and ignoring the chastising glances they were receiving from passers by. It was obvious that the two of them should be in school. "So what do you want to do till 'then'? My mom thinks I'm sleeping over to Jacob's house, so we can go check out the house now, if you want." He turned slightly and looked at her over his shoulder, "Oh, by the way you owe me 25 cent for that cigarette." He taunted as he headed toward the main road. "Let's go."

Sakura followed diligently behind even though she'd just caught her breath, "Where are we going now?" she complained as she reached into her pocket for the 25 cents. She didn't have it.

"Down to the house! You really should pay more attention. God! No wonder you're as bad as me in all of your school subjects." He said exasperatedly as they walked casually along the crowded street. "It must be after lunch with all these people out do you want to get something to eat?"

"Yeah, but I don't have any money." Sakura said looking rather disappointed. And rubbing her stomach.

"That's okay I'll buy." Li didn't look at Sakura when he said this so she couldn't that his pale cheek were now a light pink. "Only fast food though… I'm not going to blow all my money feeding that bottomless stomach of yours." He laughed.

"I don't eat that much!" She snapped back joking. Li didn't notice but Sakura was radiating happiness. All the while they'd been friends he had never offered to buy her anything. Sure they'd gone to movies and eaten out but they had always paid for themselves. She couldn't help but skipping a little on the way to the McDonalds, but when she tripped over her own feet, skinning her hands and her right knee, decided that maybe she should stop.

As the sliding doors came apart allowing them to enter, a cool rush of air-conditioned air blew passed them. The restaurant was only half full and judging by the napkins, ketchup blobs, and other trash it looked as if most of the noonday crowd had already eaten.

There wasn't a line so Li just walked up to the cash register where a rather wrinkled sun-baked woman asked for his order. He asked for a number 5 combo. Sakura asked, a bit to her chagrin, for a happy meal. The woman let out a dry laugh at this, and Li noticed quite a few of her teeth were missing.

"I'll get the drinks." Sakura piped up cheerfully, "What do you want?"

"Same as always." He leaned against the counter as he watched Sakura get their drinks. She was filling up his cup with Mountain Dew when a boorish looking man bumped into her causing her to spill a bit of the green liquid on his white shirt. Li snickered to himself at the man's horrified expression. His laughter, however, was quickly replaced with a frown when the man began to yell at Sakura for 'her clumsiness'-ignoring Sakura's continued apologies.-

Li paid for the food and picked up the tray that had just been set down behind him. He walked over to the cleanest looking table and waited for Sakura. She soon came up looking a bit disheveled but still smiling, "Sorry it took me so long. I…uh… was clumsy and spilled one of the drinks."

"Really? Because it looked like big fat oaf bumped into you making you spill them." He said with raised eyebrows.

"Oh you saw that…" She trailed off looking down at the floor.

Li sighed this was always happening. Sakura never stood up for herself. She just took the blame from others and got pushed around. "You've got to start sticking up for yourself. You can't let jerks like him push you around."

Sakura smiled looking up, "It's okay he was probably just having a bad day, and getting soda spilled on him probably didn't help. It's fine if he just got a little upset." She said giving him one of her 'yeah that's right' kinda smiles.

He turned away and took a bite out of his hamburger it was getting harder for him to argue with her. Sakura meanwhile began to open her toy. It was a hello kitty keychain and when you flipped the switch on the back of its head its bow lit up.

"I can't believe you're still getting happy meals." Li chuckled lightly.  
"Hey, happy meals are cool! You get an awesome prize!" She said holding the white kitty up in his face.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." He said smiling pushing her hand away. "Any way," he said finishing his hamburger, "after this let's go to the haunted house."

Sakura swallowed the last of her french-fries. "Eh? Okay…but before we go let's stop by my house; I want to get a few things," she said setting down the rest of her hamburger. Apparently she'd lost her appetite at the notion of seeing ghosts.

"Fine let's go then." Li said getting up, finished as well. He shoved all of their trash onto the tray and dumped it into a nearby garbage can. As they walked out of the McDonalds they felt the cool rush of air sweep past them.

They walked down the sidewalk till Li turned down an alley suddenly and hopped the fence at the end. He knew the streets well. "I've gotta go by mine, too. I need my backpack; it's got a few things in it that might prove useful." He chuckled at the last part and thought to himself, "Yeah, useful alright."

"Huff!" Sakura gave an exasperated sigh as she climbed up the fence. She was already missing sitting down. "Why do you always pick the hard ways!" She said as she dropped to the other side. "Why can't we just go the normal way?"

"I don't like walking, it takes longer to go the normal route" he said in a monotone. The twosome approached the part of the road that split in two. Take the right side you'd end up an Li's neighborhood; take the right you'd be at Sakura's doorstep. "I gotta sneak in so I'll meet you back here in about fifteen minutes." He said heading off to his home.

"Okay, fifteen minutes." Sakura agreed, and began to walk off.

"Don't be late." Li called after her. It took him a little while but he finally reached his house. "Damnit!" He yelled under his breath as he looked at his house. His room unfortunately was on the second story. He threw off his school jacket; his mom would kill him if it got ripped…again. He then proceeded to climb up the tree that grew nearest the house and crawl to the branch that was closest to his window.

Sakura opened the door of her house, walked inside. Her parents both worked so no one was there. She grabbed her bag; it had every thing she needed to stay ghoul free. It had garlic, a silver cross, salt (to get rid of bad luck), a flash light (extra batteries), cell phone, and a large butcher knife to hack away at any sickos. She'd also packed Twinkies and soda incase they got hungry.

When Li reached his room he tripped over the sill and landed with a loud thump right on his face. "Li is that you?" a voice came from down stairs.

"Crap," he mouthed as he scrambled to grab his pack.

"I better not find you up there!" He took one quick look behind him then jumped out of the window he landed on all fours and began to run to the bushes. He saw his mom peering out of the open window. She sighed, and with a shake of her head closed it. As soon as she was gone he stood up and walked towards the meeting place. Li hoped none of the neighbors had seen him.

Sakura came running up with her back pack banging against her and stopped to catch her breath as she held out her hand, "Here -huff- is -puff- the money." She'd run all the way there to be on time.

Li looked at her awkwardly. "You know I wasn't serious," he laughed and sat down so she could catch her breath. "Do you think it's really haunted?" he added hopefully.

"I don't know, I hope not…" She said, pocketing the money with a strange look in her eyes. "But if it is I'm prepared!"

He laughed. "I suppose you've got a knife in there?" Li stopped abruptly he had to stop making fun of her like this. "Well let's go." He said as he started out for the so called haunted house. "School's going to be out soon."

Sakura stood up, brushed her skirt off, and blushed slightly. She didn't want him to know just how scared she was. If he knew she actually did have a knife she'd never hear the end of it.

They reached the house with little interruptions. Except for an unusually high fence that Sakura couldn't get over, and her comment about him being her knight in shining armor when he had to help her over it. "Well where are they?" Li said still a little annoyed by her joke, and having to wait wasn't helping much. "They're supposed to see us go in!"

Sakura looked around, "I hate it when people are late." She rubbed her newly re-skinned right knee, which she'd hurt when she'd fallen off one of the fences. Sakura would never get used to having to climb all over them.

"Yeah maybe there should be a club," He sighed and saw 3 figures coming around the corner. "Here they are, finally!"   
A heavy set boy flanked by two slightly less stocky companions walked up the crumbling side walk. Their once new uniforms now showed their badge-stains reminders of the many eating contests they'd taken place in at their high school.

"I see y' guys actually showed up. 'Kay we're 'ere too. Hope you hav' a nice night" Blaze slurred out in broken English the leader of the little group. He was the one who'd bet Li $150 that he couldn't stay the night in the haunted house with his scardy-cat friend Sakura. He laughed with his lackeys as he watched the duo enter the house through one of the broken windows.

"This isn't too bad." Li said as he looked around. They were in what seemed to be a large parlor room. Light entered the room as if through a filter. Dust hung in the air, clinging to the white sheets that covered the furniture and blanketed everything that wasn't covered.

Sakura's eyes were as wide as saucers and kept darting around, looking from one covered object to the next as if at any moment they might throw of the sheets and reveal themselves as horrid monsters. "Yeah, this isn't so scary." She said but her mind was screaming, "We're going to die here!"

"So we just have to spend the night here let's go look around." He opened up the door and moved into a hallway with Sakura closely behind. She followed him like a shadow not daring to be even a few inches away.

There were large oak steps in the middle of the room, but Li tried the other two doors in the room, which turned out to be locked, before he started walking up the stairs. He had only taken a few steps when a burning feeling stopped him dead in his tracks.

"What's wrong?" Sakura said walking up behind him clutching her bag. She didn't feel a thing; placing a hand on his shoulder she asked again, "Are you okay?"

Li sank to his knees and covered his ears. "You don't hear that?" he yelled, pulling his hat down to try and block out the atrocious sound. He closed his eyes; he was burning. It felt like he was being ripped apart from the inside. His breath was short, then not at all; blackness came muting the screaming, cooling the burning, stopping the pain, and driving him farther and farther away from Sakura's sobbing voice.

"Li? Li? What's wrong?" Sakura dropped down beside him and began to shake him. "What's going on?" He did not move.

Li awoke in the house but there wasn't any color; everything was black and white. "Sakura? Heeellooo?" he called out, receiving only his echo in reply. He was alone. Li tried to stand up but ended up falling; his whole body felt stiff and weak. That's when a hint of color caught his eye. A glowing red jewel was floating at the top of the stairs, and it was drifting closer and closer. He tried to getup but couldn't move. The red jewel began to glow brighter and brighter until its light engulfed the room. It began to burn into him. The scorching pain returned, but it was worse than the pain before; worse than any other pain he'd ever felt. It was cold now, so cold it was hot. He was sure thousands of needles were piercing his body driving holes into him. His mouth and eyes were dry and he felt like he was going to die. He lay there watching the darkness envelope the room. Waiting for the shadow to take him. The pain began to ebb away but he heard something that cut him deeper.

Sakura was crying now, and had his head cradled in her arms, it had been 10 minutes. She'd called 911 but they had laughed at her story of a haunted house assuming it was a prank call. "Don't die Li, don't die..." She sobbed not knowing what to do.

Li woke up screaming from the pain that had only lasted a few seconds. He opened his eyes and it took a while for everything to sink in. He looked horrible, but managed to sit up. "What the hell just happened?" he said coming to. "Did you call 911? We're not supposed to be in here!" He sighed, his brain coming back into focus, but stopped when he saw the worried look on Sakura's face. He managed a half hearted smile and said nervously, "Thanks for worrying, but I'm fine now. It's okay so let's go on." He had a lot of money riding on this and couldn't let something this trivial stop him.

Li started to get up, but Sakura grabbed his hand to hold him back. "What! No way! You almost died! NO!" Sakura's stomach lurched and thought, "How could he do this? He might be fine but I'm not! I don't want to go on." Her already red and puffy eyes welled up with tears.

"I didn't almost die. It was probably just all the dust in here, and when I started moving I stirred some up so I couldn't breathe." He said nervously; Li couldn't handle crying. "I'm fine see," He started to run in circles and stretching. "See? Fine. Let's go"

Sakura simply nodded, wiped her eyes, and stood up. She would have to be brave. Li needed her, even if he wouldn't admit it, even if all she could do was stop him from making some rash decision, even if that was all she'd do it. So even though she wanted to go home with all her heart she wouldn't leave her best friend, she wouldn't leave Li all by himself.

They walked up the stairs and Li had a slight warm feeling inside his chest but he decided to keep it to himself. The step's creaks and moan seemed to scream of their old age. When they reached the upstairs Li tried the first door, it was locked. The second door wasn't though. They walked into a large room. It was completely empty except for a few dusty windows that had been boarded up long ago and a long table at to the far side of the room.

"You think this was a ballroom?" Li said trying to lighten the room and looking up at the beautifully painted ceiling. It portrayed a devil being cast out of heaven in a streak of fire by God. Li walked into the center of the room, and looking over his shoulder at Sakura and said. "This is kinda cool..."

He stood in front of one of the windows and the few rays of light that pushed pass the boards fell across him. "Yeah it is." Sakura said smiling up at him. Up close you could tell she was about two inches shorter than Li. She kept telling him that one day when she was bigger she wouldn't let him go running off, but till then she'd go with him to make sure he didn't get into too much trouble. Li felt his ears turn red and that smile that only graced his face when Sakura was there crept up on him.

He turned away quickly and said rather hoarsely, "Come on, this is boring there's nothing in here." He said turning suddenly and walking out of the room.

"Mmmm..." As he passed her Sakura clutched her chest it really hurt. "Wow" she thought "I must be really worried about this place."

Li turned around to see her clenching her chest "Is she feeling the same thing I did?" Li thought. "Are you ok you don't look too good?" He questioned sharply trying not to show his worry.

"What's that mean?" Sakura laughed making a joke out of his question. "I'm fine, just a little nervous. Let's go look some more."

"Okay, lead the way," Li shrugged; from behind he saw her stumble, "Are you sure you're ok? We don't have to do this." He paused and thought, "We better do this I've got money on this thing!"

"No I'm fine." She said. As she walked down the hallway she saw through one of the board-less windows the dying orange sun sinking into the black abyss that was the horizon. She paused to stare out it; there was her neighborhood, her town. She'd almost forgotten that outside this house was another world, was her world. Li opened a door to her right and walked in. It was a bathroom the toilet and bathe were missing and there was a faded rectangle out line where he assumed a mirror had been. Sakura deciding this was boring opened another door to what appeared to be a little girl's room. Strangely there weren't any sheets covering up furniture but nothing was dusty. Sakura walked in looking around.

There had to be at least 300 dolls in that room. The room had built in shelves on each of the walls and dolls filled them to bursting. There were all kinds from all different eras. She walked up to a blonde one with brown eyes that seemed to stare back at her. "Wow," she said in a hushed voice, "you're so beautiful." Suddenly reached out with its hands and grabbed her neck, its one pursed pink lips curled up ward in an evil smile. Sakura gasping for air grabbed the doll's blonde curls and tore it from her throat. She threw it against the wall causing some other dolls to fall. No, they weren't falling they were flying! The dolls began to soar around the room crashing into the walls and other obstacles with great force. "Ahhh!" Sakura let out a scream and ducked as one flew at her.

Li ran down the hall and peered into the room. He ducked but it was to late a doll hit him in the face and shattered. Blood started to spill from his new cut, but it quickly healed over with new skin. It healed so well that no one would have ever guessed that he'd been hurt, except for the blood that trickled down from the cut. Li, though, was oblivious to what had just happened, and ran recklessly in save Sakura. "Get out of here!" he yelled pushing her out of the room and shielding her with his body so the crashed into him instead of her. It seemed to take an eternity but they finally reached the door which Li slammed behind them. Loud thuds came from behind the door and then silence.

Sakura sank down hugging her knees to her chest. Her neck showed the imprints of to tinny hands but apart from that she was unscratched. She was, however, unearthly pale and her eyes were wide and emotionless. She sat there not saying a word.

Li knelt by her side, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Are you ok... Sakura? I'm sorry; I should have listened to you. I wish I had." Sakura stared blankly up at him and then stood. She stared at him for a moment then signaled with her hands that she wanted him to follow. She then turned and walked deeper into the house, she left her bag lying on the ground.

"What? Sakura let's go back…" He trailed off as he watched her walk down the long hallway. He soon followed.

Sakura walked briskly down the hall passing at least three more doors then stopping in front of one with pealing off-white paint she pulled it open. It lead to a long dark hallway, so dark that Li couldn't see the end but still followed Sakura with out hesitation. At the end of the hallway Sakura stopped in front of a door with a golden knob shaped like the head of a snake. She turned the knob and pulled it open revealing a staircase which she began to climb. Li looked at her oddly and followed up the stairs. "We really should-" it was pointless she couldn't hear him or just wasn't listening all he could was to stay with her. At the top of the stairs was another long corridor and at the end of that laid the third door.

The door had been boarded up but this didn't stop Sakura. She began to rip off the boards with an inhuman strength; once they were all gone she pushed open the door. Inside was what seemed to be a throne room. It was rather bare except for some flickering candles here and there, and in the middle was a high backed chair with a beautiful woman sitting in it. Li followed Sakura in the room and stared at the woman in the elegant chair... "You live here?" he asked… dumb founded by her beauty.

"Yes I live here in the sense of the word that this is my house and where I stay, but I do not live. Not yet!" Her voice was an ear splitting shriek but it didn't faze Sakura; she just stared ahead with her glazed over eyes.

Li jumped at the sound of the woman's voice. "That was you screaming when we walked in wasn't it?"

"Yesss," she hissed out. "It has been so long since someone has entered my house. I wanted to take your magic immediately but I couldn't! You took some of my magic in stead! You took my pyro! But I still wanted it; I still wanted that power that was sleeping within you, so I took control of your pretty little friend. I took her memories and turned her into a pretty little doll to lead you here!"

"Pyro...? Is that what that red light was?" He said in a strained voice. There was something memorizing about the woman and he couldn't bring himself to yell at her. She was just so beautifully enchanting. "Will you let my friend go?" he asked. Li shook his head. "Let my friend go." His words had no effect on her. Growing angry and fearful for Sakura he yelled, "If you don't let her go I'll kill you!"

The woman let out a piercing laugh, "It's been quite a while since anyone has dared raised their voice to me! But even if I did let you have your friend back she wouldn't be the same. You see I have her memories and without them she's nothing more than an empty shell." She held out her hand and in it was a silver feather with strange markings on it. "If you ever want to see your friend again you'd better not kill me for if you do she dies to!" With that she let out another cackle.

"I think you're bluffing." He said with a smirk, and his eyes began to glow red. His empty hands became heavy with flames. It had come naturally to him he hadn't called upon them and he hadn't recited and incantation but the fire came readily to his finger tips. "I'm sorry Sakura, I won't hurt you." he whispered as he charged at the woman, but Sakura moved in front of the lady, her arms out spread to protect the woman behind her.

"I don't think you want to damage the girl's body either now do you! The only way to get her memories back is to give me your power! I might even give you two a painless death, that's better than I gave the last helpless fool." She said in a happy voice as if she were playing with toys.

Li stopped and the flames drifted away as his anger grew in him. "I don't have any power, I never have! Not until today when I entered this wretched hell hole!" Li spat but the woman simply laughed and wouldn't listen to his word. He grabbed his backpack and began to quickly rummage through it looking for an item. Yes! He'd found it, the spray paint he used for tagging! He pulled he lifted up his index finger and the tip became enflamed; he held it up right beneath the spray paint the pushed down on the button hard. The gas and the fire mixed causing a small explosion, but more importantly a lot of smoke. Hoping the smoke would hide him for a bit he ran towards the witch Sakura grabbed his arm before he could deliver the blow to the witch she'd been enchanted to protect.

A gust of wind blew suddenly through the room driving the smoke away. "Don't under estimate me! I might not have as much power as you but I do have a great deal of power! And I do not appreciate stunts like that! And neither does your friend." She said with a twisted smile. Sakura raised her free hand as if to slap him but it hovered in mid air her blank eyes staring at him.

"Sakura..." Li said softly looking at her then back at the woman. "I won't let you have my power but I would rather die than let you hurt Sakura. I'd rather kill my self!"

"You wouldn't dare!" The woman's eyes blazed and her fist clenched around the ring. "If he died his power would disappear with him." She thought silently.

For a split second pain shot through Sakura's eyes and she wobbled a bit. But in a blink she was back like she was before: motionless, her arm still raised.

Li pulled away from Sakura's grip, "Oh! Did I hit a weak spot?" he laughed. "You know, I'm not afraid to die. I'll be more than happy to leave this cursed world!"

"If you die so does the girl! And without her memories she can't pass on; she'll stay here on earth forever stuck in her past!"

"No you wouldn't, I doubt you have enough power to hurt even a fly. After trying to kill me and then taking control of Sakura you must be really exhausted, no wonder you won't move from your seat!" Li reached into his back pack and pulled out a knife and held it right to his throat. "I could always... right now."

"No!" Sakura's eyes suddenly regained focus. "Li-no-die." She grabbed his hands and fell to her knees trying to stay conscious.

"Sakura…" he said dropping the knife and hugging her. The woman let out a gasp as the feather disappeared from her hand into the clasped hands of Sakura and Li. Li let go of Sakura's hands and placed them across her chest she'd fallen into a deep sleep since she was no longer under the witch's control. "I have her memories now; you have nothing left to hide behind! Now die witch!" And with that a blinding light shot across the room piercing the woman's chest, she burst into flames then disappeared. Li then bent down and held the feather just above Sakura's heart it turned into a silver fog and drifted into her chest causing a ripple like effect as it entered. Sakura rubbed her eyes then looked up into the smiling face of Li.

"Can we go home now?"

_Fin_

Michi: That's it I hope you liked this one shot its not short but it's rather sweet!


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